Firefighters work to extricate a Saginaw woman from the driver's seat of a Mercury car that crashed into a tree on Nov. 2.

UPDATE: Eastbound M-25 has re-opened to traffic following a single vehicle crash that took place around 9:24 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2. Bay County Central Dispatch reported the road re-opened shortly after 1 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 3.

BANGOR TOWNSHIP, MI — Eastbound M-25 is closed as emergency workers assist at the scene of a crash near the intersection of Reinhardt in Bay County's Bangor Township.

The crash happened about 9:24 p.m. and involved a 43-year-old Saginaw woman, according to police at the scene.

A Flight Care helicopter landed at the scene about 10:30 p.m.

A car was against a tree and the roof was bent back as firefighters from the Bangor Township Fire Department used the Jaws of Life to extract the female occupant from the vehicle. A tow truck from Bob's Towing was there to assist in pulling the vehicle apart, police said.

This angle shows how the car wrapped around a tree, pinning the victim inside.

"They're literally busting that car apart to get her out," said Bay County Sheriff's Sgt. Don Duchene, who was one of nearly two dozen emergency responders and police officers assisting at the scene.

Duchene said the woman was conscious, but was not responding with coherent thoughts as she had, at the least, sustained head and leg injuries.

"She doesn't even know what year it is," he said.

Nearly two hours after the crash, the woman was removed from the car about 11:21 p.m. and was transported by helicopter shortly after 11:30 p.m.

Police at the scene said the woman likely would be taken to St. Mary's of Michigan and eventually transported to Hurley Medical Center in Flint. One officer said the woman was not conscious at the time she was airlifted to the hospital.

The car just after firefighters from the Bangor Township Fire Department removed the injured woman.

Investigators believe the woman was eastbound on M-25 when the four-door Mercury she was driving went off the roadway. Tire tracks on the side of the roadway were visible about 50 yards west of where the vehicle eventually came to rest. Police believe the driver over corrected and the car went over the curb and struck the tree on the driver side window near where the driver's head would be.

Gene and Rahn Litzner, who live at 1612 Thomas, across the street from where the car came to rest, said they were watching TV when they heard a "thud" outside and saw brake lights in the dark.

He saw the car was pinned up against the tree and Rahn Litzner called 911.

The couple has lived in the home for 16 years, Rahn Litzner said, adding she has never seen an accident like this one.

"I'm freaked out," she said during the rescue. "I just want them to get her out of the car."

A closer view of the vehicle shows the magnitude of cutting it took to free the victim.

The accident took place on a three lane stretch of M-25 leading into Bay City from US-10. The road curves to the right shortly after the speed limit is reduced from 70 mph to 45 mph. A guardrail protects the Litzner's home, though Rahn Litzner said the rail usually is damaged every winter.

Also assisting at the scene were officers from the Bay City Police Department and McLaren-Bay Region EMS.

Several local residents watched as crews worked to free the woman from the car, many commenting that they'd never seen anything quite like this accident. Police, too, said it was unusual for the extraction of the victim to take nearly two hours, but the way she was pinned inside the car made it difficult to cut away and move different pieces of the vehicle.

Police also noted that the car contained two car seats, but there were no children — or any other passengers — in the car at the time of the crash.